lpAppName

lpAppName is a conventional variable name used in Windows API programming to refer to a string that contains the name of an application. It is not a Windows API function or constant; rather it illustrates a common naming pattern found in sample code and real projects. The prefix lp stems from older Hungarian notation and denotes a pointer to a string (a long pointer in 16-bit terminology), while AppName describes the content of the string. In many code samples, lpAppName is declared as a pointer to a character string, typically LPCTSTR or LPWSTR in C/C++, depending on whether Unicode is enabled.

The variable is commonly used where an application name needs to be supplied to Windows functions. For example, the parameter named lpApplicationName in CreateProcess or similar APIs may be represented locally as lpAppName in illustrative code. It may also be used to populate UI elements, logging, or error messages that display the program’s name.

As a naming convention, its exact type and memory management depend on the surrounding code: it may point to a string literal, a dynamically allocated buffer, or a value retrieved at runtime. In modern code, developers may replace long-pointer types with appropriate smart pointers or standard string types, but the variable name lpAppName persists in many legacy projects.